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With the purpose of adding 1,200 trees to the fading green cover of the city, Ruzbeh Raja, a third year BCom student from HR College, along with 200 students from several city colleges, NGO members, and volunteers from the Indian Merchant Chamber (IMC) marched off to the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Grounds in Goregaon at 7 am, and started planting trees on the well-maintained hilly terrains.
Raja, who says it took him just three weeks to collect people for this grand feat, agrees that the experience has turned him into a nature lover. “In just one day, I have learnt so much about trees, soil, manure and how plants help the environment,” he smiles.
He explains: “A few weeks ago, the IMC approached Sherrif Indu Sahani’s office about a project called ‘Green Thumprint’. One of their plans was to plant trees. I found the plan feasible, and very effective to help the environment. Ever since, I have been going around the city looking for like-minded volunteers to help in the project.”
The team works on the premise that a moderate-sized tree annually photosynthesizes 11.8 kg of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to that emitted by a car on a 17,700 km trip. “Plantation and conservation of trees are an affordable, easy and low-cost climate change mitigation measures. However, very few people seem to give it a thought and plant trees,” Raja says.
With the help of Pune-based horticulturist Dolly Chappia, the group chose 1,200 saplings from the BMC’s tree authority office last week. They include avenue trees, fruiting trees, rain-attracting trees, flowering trees and trees that prevent soil erosion. Explaining their choice of trees Monali Patil, IMC volunteer, says, “We were very careful about the location of saplings. Bird-attracting trees like cotton silk and berries were planted near a natural river. Few gulmohars were planted in the core regions and the conical Ashoka trees were planted near the gate.” Raja pointed out that this is the beginning of the one million trees the Sherrif plans to plant in the city before December.
Apart from the 1,200 trees, the group has also acquired several medical plants which will be planted on the SRPF terrain over the next few weeks. “Among them are aloevera, insulin plant, a shrub, leaves of which are administered to snake bite victims.” The plantations are being done at seven major spots at the SRPF ground, with the seventh one being reserved for medicinal plants. Raja says, “Planting trees is the simplest thing people can do. If we all plant trees, the city will have a green cover that will be the envy of others.”
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